


I was in front of you the whole time

by LinaBigFace



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), First Kiss, Last Kiss, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Phantom Thief AU, Probably add them hours after this has been posted, There is other DRV3 characters but they are only mentioned and/or briefly there, There is other tags but they would spoil the ending, it is not angst, oumasai, saiouma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 04:55:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16078859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinaBigFace/pseuds/LinaBigFace
Summary: It's been 4 years that Shuichi and Kokichi have been dating. Before that, the Detective used to chase after the famous Phantom Thief, however Shuichi never knew the Phantom Thief's identity.Two woman are asking for Shuichi's help, one of them had slightly twisted pigtails and the other one had a braid on each side of her head.





	I was in front of you the whole time

**Author's Note:**

> This was for #55 of the Saiouma exchange (I AM WELL AWARE THAT I AM LATE AND I AM DEEPLY SORRY FOR WHOEVER GOT UNLUCKY TO HAVE ME). The prompt was First/Last kiss so I went with both.
> 
> Thank you SO MUCH FixerRefutation for beta'ing me, please read her fics, some of them are Oumasai ones.

The morning rays of the sun woke Shuichi from his peaceful slumber. The first thing he saw was a pair of amethyst eyes under him, sparkling mischievously.

  
“Good mooooorning, sleepyhead!”, the small figure greeted with enthusiasm. “Good morning, Kokichi." Shuichi yawned, taking a glance at the clock. It was currently 6:50 AM. "How long have you been up?" he added, giving the little leader a morning kiss. "Long enough to look at you and your gorgeous face." the other giggled.

 

They’d been dating for 4 years already and moved together a year ago. Even so, Shuichi would still flush at some of the compliments coming from the purple boy. As some kind of revenge, Shuichi liked to tease his boyfriend as well.

  
"Ehhhh, don't hide your face! Let me see it!" whined Kokichi, trying to pull the blanket off his boyfriend's face. "Fine, fine, but stop pulling the blanket or we’ll have to get a new one because you tore this one." Kokichi obeyed, but an exaggerated gasp escaped his mouth. "B–but you're the one who kept grasping it above your head, while all I wanted to do was to take a look at your cute flushed expression..." Tears formed on the corner of his eyes as he began to wail. "Now you’re accusing me of a crime that I’ve never done! W-WAAAAAAAAAAAH,YOU’RE SOOO MEEEAN, SHUICHI!"

 

The detective was aware that his boyfriend was faking it, but the screaming and the loud, exaggerated sniffling coming from the liar would annoy the neighbors of their apartment complex. He didn't want to get complaints from them _again._ "But the more blankets there are, the better pillow forts you can make, right?” Kokichi instantly stopped crying as his face lit up, "That’s a great idea, as expected from Shuichi! Let's go buy more blankets and pillows this afternoon. We’ll create a huge pillow fort just for the two of us!"

  
_'Bep, bep, bep'_ , the sound of the alarm brought the boys' attention back to the clock as it _clicked_ to seven am.

  
"Time to get up, Kokichi."

  
"Uuuugh, noooo. Stay with me in the bed. I have a day off today.", the latter whined.

  
"You do, but I don't. Are you planning to stay on the bed and sleep or to eat breakfast with me?"

  
"Mhhhm, I'll keep sleeping."

  
"Don't forget to make the bed." Shuichi reminded him before leaving for the bathroom, knowing that Kokichi was lying.

  
"Awww, you're no fun!”

  
After they finished brushing their teeth, waiting for Shuichi to dry his face because Kokichi "accidentally" splashed him, they went to the kitchen to cook breakfast. It was something simple; miso soup, rolled omelet and leftover rice from yesterday. As they were eating, Shuichi glanced at the calendar, noting the date as March 10, the day of one of his most important nights.

* * *

 

Shuichi and the Phantom Thief were playing at the cat and mouse game (to the Thief's perspective) as usual. The police were behind, distracted by a bait that the Thief left for it as per usual. The Thief didn't steal anything so far that night, despite the fact that he stated that he would steal a certain jewel. There was no jewel at the last building he broke glass to get in, only to flee immediately, leaving a nice bait for the police. All of this was unusual. Why would he create such a scene only to steal nothing? The Phantom Thief always stole something valuable. It was one of the only consistent things about him.

  
The Detective was chased the Thief for what felt like hours. Shuichi slowly grew extremely tired. The Thief finally stopped to rest. Thank god, because if Shuichi ran any longer, he would collapse.

  
His stamina was drained, his lungs were aching, and his sore throat was begging for water. For how long had he been running? The two were on top of a building, tall enough so one could see the tiny figures of, perhaps, police officers.  He could see the lights coming from other buildings of the city. Overall, it was a nice view. Too bad that Shuichi, panting, was focused on the view in front of him: The Phantom Thief. There was an uncomfortable silence. The Phantom Thief was the first one to break it.

 

"Awww, is my dear detective that tired from all that exercise?", he laughed,  searching for something behind his back and eventually taking out a water bottle. "Catch!" he threw the bottle to Shuichi.

  
Due to his fatigue and the sudden action, his reaction time was delayed, and he almost failed to catch the water bottle. Normally, one would get suspicious if the criminal they were chasing after gave them a water bottle with the possibility of it being poisoned and all, but despite that, Shuichi opened the cap, still sealed, and drank half of the bottle's content in one shot. He sighed, relieved, and twisted the cap back on. The detective trusted the Thief enough to accept something like this from him, he had received many objects, or even gifts, coming from him.

  
"Thank you." Shuichi smiled to him, regaining his breath.

  
"Neheehee, you shouldn't say that to the criminal you’re aiming to capture."

 

"This applies to you too, you shouldn’t help the one who’s aiming to capture you." the raven-haired detective refuted.

  
"Whatever.” the criminal pouted under his mask. " It was soooo fun to run and jump around the city with you tonight!" he exclaimed cheerfully, throwing his arms up in the air. "Time to go home now."

  
Wait, the Phantom Thief still hadn’t stolen anything yet. Something was definitely wrong. "You're going already? What about your heist?" Shuichi inquired, putting his hand to his chin.

  
"Nehehe, it was a lie, of course! I’m not going without stealing something from my target, who -gasp!- is right in front of me."

  
Before Shuichi could understand the words coming out of the Phantom Thief, the latter ducked in front of him, lifting his mask slightly to the side of his face, enough so that his face couldn't be fully seen. Shuichi felt lips pressed on his own. His mind blanked out, all he could focus on was the Phantom Thief's soft lips. It was just a simple kiss, nothing more. It lasted only for 2 seconds, but it felt like an eternity to both. As soon as the Thief pulled himself away, the raven boy covered his mouth, a small squeal escaping him, face as red as a goddamn pimento. That-that was his first kiss, and the thief just went up and stole it!

 

W-why?", was all the stunned boy could say, heart beating out of his chest.  
"Nish-hehe, I stole your heart [and you stole mine], so now I'm satisfied! Consider this kiss as a thank you from me for all the times we've spent together. Farewell, Shuichi." The Phantom Thief ran away, leaving the Detective confused because of his last words.

* * *

Two weeks passed without any news from the Phantom Thief, it was only on a Saturday morning that the world got informed that every single object that he stole were getting returned to their respective homes. Shuichi was surprised about that, but the first thing that came to his mind was the kiss he got from the Thief.

  
His face went red.

 

"Are you alright, Shuichi?", his Uncle, noticing his face, asked.  
"Uh? Oh, yes, yes. I’m perfectly fine.", the raven boy reassured him.  
"All the trouble the police and we went through to protect those precious objects from that Phantom Thief, only to find out now that he returned them all. It was as if he was retiring." his Uncle signed.

 

A month went by without any further news from the Phantom Thief. Eventually, the case became classified as closed. Shuichi didn't know how to react. Was he happy? Excited? Sad? Or even disappointed? He didn't know, he had mixed feelings about that. He had worked on that case for a year. Chasing after the Phantom Thief every week became a habit. He would even look forward to chase him some days.

  
Eventually, he met Ouma Kokichi a month later, then, he fell in love, again months later. Kokichi was an enigma, someone whom Shuichi had a hard time to understand, along with his constant lies. His normal days had disappeared since he’d met that purple haired boy.  


"What do you think of the Phantom Thief?", Kokichi brought up this question to Shuichi at one of their dates, in a simple ice cream shop. "Mhm? Why that sudden question?"

 

"For nothing, I was just thinking of him and you used to chase after him, right? I just want to know your opinion about him.", Kokichi simply stated, bringing a spoon of ice cream to his mouth to take a bite.

  
"Oh, uh, where to start... Well, when we first met, you used to remind me of him, sometimes. Maybe it was because I missed him a lot at that time—",  
“But, I don't understand, isn't he a criminal? Why would you miss him?”, Kokichi talked over him, stopping to eat some more ice cream.

  
“Well… he was in fact a criminal, but he was still a good person. I often think about what would have happened if he wasn’t a criminal. If we didn’t pass our time playing at cat and mouse, maybe we would hang out instead and we could have learned more about each other.” There was now an uncomfortable silence after that sentence. Shuichi continued to eat his ice cream.

  
"You loved him.", Kokichi blurted out of the blue. This resulted to the raven-haired boy spitting the ice cream to the floor and coughing, thank god they were outside.

  
"What?!... Uh..." Shuichi lowered his head as a faint blush spread across his cheeks. "You can tell me, I won't judge you or anything like this." his boyfriend reassured him.

 

"It is hard to say but...", the raven boy whispered, "..maybe?..um.." His blush intensified. Shuichi looked up to Kokichi, noticing his huge smile. He was about to ask why he was smiling, but he believed that it may be just because of the ice cream. "That question was really intimate."  


"Nishishi, you did say that you missed him, that's why I brought up this specific question. We are boyfriends after all. If you plan to let your ice cream melt, I'll eat it for you!", the purple-haired boy proclaimed, finishing off his ice cream.

  
"You can eat it, I'm not hungry anymore.", Shuichi pushed his bowl to Kokichi.

  
"Yay!"

* * *

 

"Shumai. Shumai? Shuuuuuichiii!!!" a voice shouted, bringing the called boy back to reality. It was Kokichi who shouted. "You were spacing out. Is there anything special today?", the boy pointed to the calendar.

  
"Ah, sorry. No, there’s nothing special." Shuichi continued to eat his almost finished breakfast.

  
"Aww, with all the time you wasted spacing out, you’re now...late for work."

"Kokichi, I know this is a lie and I won't fall for it...", Shuichi trailed off after looking at Kokichi. He had his phone out, indicating 7:48AM. Shuichi looked at his own phone and at the clock of the kitchen. "I'm late for work!" Shuichi immediately jumped out of his seat to get his keys and he came back to kiss his boyfriend.

  
"Nishishi, don't get scolded too much. I'll lock the door for you.", the purple haired boy giggled.

  
"Thank you, love you!", with that, Shuichi rushed outside to his car, unlocked it and looked at the time inside of it while starting the motor of the engine, 7:50AM.

* * *

Kokichi locked the door of the house, just like he told his boyfriend. He smiled to himself and started to laugh. "Nishishi, my lies still work on you with some tricks, Shumai."

* * *

 As soon as Shuichi parked his car, he ran and rushed into the detective agency.

  
"I am _so_ late, I’m so sorry. It won't happen again, I—"

"Woah, woah, calm down, Shuichi. Breathe, you're all red,” His uncle reassured, grinning. "Besides, you’re here earlier than usual. It’s only 7:17.”  
The confused boy looked at his phone. "But, it’s 8:17...” Realisation hit him.

 " I can't believe Kokichi changed the time of everything that has a clock in our house... he even changed the time of my car." Shuichi facepalmed, feeling incredibly stupid.

  
His Uncle chuckled. "Well, I _am_ glad that he’s done this prank. I was about to call you to come to the office." Before Shuichi could ask why, his Uncle continued to talk, "There’re a few young ladies who would like to speak to you-they’re waiting at your office. I'll leave you now, I have paperwork. Tell me if you need anything as usual, okay?"

 

"Got it. Thank you, Uncle.” Shuichi offhandedly replied as he arrived at his office. When he opened the door, he was greeted by the sign of two woman in the room. One was standing and the other was sitting on the chair, bringing her legs to her chest while looking at the floor. As soon as he creaked open the door, one of the girls noticed Shuichi, allowing the standing one to speak to the detective.

 

"Hello, Mister Saihara Shuichi, it’s _such_ a pleasure to meet you!" the girl beamed in excitement, waving her arms about wildly as if she ’d met an idol. She had slightly twisted tawny hair and eyes that matche d the color of her hair. She wore a fashionably long shirt with black leggings, similar to the girl who sat next to her. The other girl had long hazelnut hair with a braid at each side of her head. Her eyes sparkled with slight mirth.   


“I’d prefer to not say my real name, so please call me Twintails. This is my sister.” Twintail pointed to the sitting girl. Let’s call her… Braid.” The latter gave Shuichi a small smile and waved to him. Twintail sat on the chair beside Braid and Shuichi, after closing the door of his office, went to sit on his own. “So, how can I help you?”

  
“Ah, well, I’ve organized a party tonight and… this morning I have received a letter. Someone’s planning to steal the engagement ring of my brother. He’s currently on vacation and if he knew..” She closed her eyes and dawned a look of sheepish embarrassment. “I don’t trust the police, so I thought asking for your help would be better.” Twintail paused, “Oh, and I don’t have the message with me… I tore it out of frustration…”, she lowered her head and looked down shamefacedly.

 

“We would prefer it if you came to the party to capture the thief. I’ll keep the ring with me, but we can never be sure if it’ll be safe...so we need your help." Braid spoke for the first time. Her voice was soft, just shy of a whisper. "But, please, don't bring the police." she added, tone adopting a tinge of apprehension.

 

Normally, one would like that the police come as undercover in a party with a potentially dangerous criminal-or in this case, a phantom thief- running loose. Even so, Twintails stated that she didn’t trust the police, and while a part of that was suspicious, Shuichi could understand. What was really strange was that the girls were using nicknames instead of stating their real names. Perhaps they really didn't want to say it for personal reasons, but it was enough to raise Shuichi’s suspicions. Somehow, he felt they were lying. Plus, they didn’t even have the letter with them as well, what if this whole thing was simply an elaborate prank? .. _or maybe I’m just overthinking again._ he thought. He could always ask his Uncle, but that would distract him from the case the senior detective had been working on for quite a while . He—   


"Sir? Sir!", Twintails singsonged, opening her mouth wider as if to scream while Braid watched, idly playing with her sweater in the corner of the room, bringing Shuichi back to reality. "Uh?" he replied before correcting himself, "I mean, yes?"   
Twintails closed her mouth, looking downtrodden now that she had no reason to raise her voice. "So, are you gonna help us?"

 

Shuichi brought his hand to his chin, he took a moment of reflexion before deciding to accept to help. "Yes, it would be a pleasure to help you." he smiled. There was a short moment of silence before Twintails clapped, startling the detective.

 

"Perfect! It's now time to go shopping for you!" She snickered. "...hold on, what?" Shuichi squeaked,looking at Twintails with wide eyes. "It's only natural that we buy you your formal attire for the party. We will pay everything, so do not worry!", the excitable girl laughed gleefully, holding a ‘hero pose’ as Shuichi and Braid watched on.

 

"Don't forget about his hair. He needs to get his hair done." Braid added, giggling slightly, evidently getting caught up by Twintails’ happiness.

 

“Wait, no, I can't accept. I don't need more clothes and I don’t need to have my hair done!", there was _absolutely_ no way Shuichi would accept such a ridiculous offer from customers, anyway . Sure, he might’ve needed a new suit of something for important events like the party the two girls detailed , but he still couldn't accept. "No nono, we insist. It’s rather important that you have something for this party , after all. " Shuichi couldn’t let them pay for both a suit and a hairdo. “ Well then, please, let me pay for y—"   


"No!", the girls frowned, Twintails pouting and Braid shaking he head disapprovingly.

 

After half an hour of insistence coming from both of the girls, Shuichi, with a bit of guilt and full-on resignation, accepted the girl’s’ offer to pay everything for him. They brought him to the building where the party would commence. The entrance was simple and not too imposing compared to its inside. _God,_ the inside. Were these people rich or something?

 

The main hall was huge. A single, massive chandelier and dozens of other, smaller ones coated the ceiling in sparkling diamonds and glass. A few tables were scattered around the ballroom, mostly empty for dancers, Shuichi presumed. A stage was there as well, waiting invitingly for musicians to play on it. Shuichi looked around the ballroom again and started his investigation.  


"Do the guests all have invitations?" he asked, voice echoing in the empty halls.

 

"Yes, anyone who are invited have to show it at the entrance.", Twintail answered. She was searching something in her bag, it was a black and white checkered paper and gave it to Shuichi. The invitation’s aesthetic seemed oddly familiar to him, somehow reminding him of Kokichi. Upon finishing the paper, Twintail told Shuichi to keep it.  


"So, your party is for your brother's engagement?"

  
"Yes, he’s planning to propose tonight. He’s coming back from his vacation in a few hours."

  
"Are you done investigating the place? We have an appointment with the hairdresser in an hour.", Braid, coming back from a call, told to the others. “Not yet, please. May I see what the ring looks like?”

  
Twintails played with her fingers nervously. “I..can only show the box.”

  
“Why’s that?”, Shuichi cocked an eyebrow, beginning to feel doubtful of the credibility of this case.

 

“I have a complicated brother who wants that his significant other to see it first.” Twintail sighed. “...he prefers to be the one to open the box for when he proposes.” she brought something out and showed him a simple navy blue ring box. He held it in his hands, feeling the smooth wood before handing it back.

 

After finishing to investigate the place, they went to the barber shop, Shuichi sat on the customer’s chair and the girls gave the barber the instructions of how they wanted the detective’s hair made. In other words, Shuichi had _absolutely_ _no_ control of how he wanted his hair to be. While they were still talking, Shuichi tried to call Kokichi, but he wasn't responding. After three other attempts, he stopped. He must have been out of the house and have forgotten to bring his cellphone.

  
Hours later after having his hair done and buying a rather expensive suit for the party, a part of Shuichi’s hair was swept back neatly, and he wore a darkly-colored tuxedo. He considered going back home after calling his boyfriend for the sixth time and sending some more messages. Kokichi wasn't the type to not answer phone calls or messages after hours of waiting, and it...worried Shuichi.

  
Unfortunately, the party was about to start, and by the time he left for home and came back, something may have happened in between.

 

“I’m sure your boyfriend is okay.”, Braid reassured him warmly, greeting another guest. She and her sister wore different kinds of dresses, but both had the same aesthetic: a white dress with checkered pattern. A white mask with intricate designs were attached to their faces. “Why don’t you go see if there is anyone suspicious for now?”

  
Shuichi obeyed, he looked around the ballroom, wearing his own Prussian blue masquerade-like mask. Twintail forgot to mention him that this was a masked party, didn’t she..? Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until he stole a glance at the woman playing the piano, donning a magenta dress. Even though the woman wore a black mask, blonde hair sparkled with a freshly cleaned shine that instantly gave her away. “Kaede!” he called. She looked down, and her face split into a smile, jumping from the stage to greet him.

  
“Oh, Shuichi! Good evening.”

  
“Kaede, what are you doing here?”

 

“What do you mean? I’ve been invited to this party. I’m not the only one. Rantaro, Kaito, Maki, Miu, Kiibo, everyone from our college gang is here!” she pointed behind Shuichi to wave at an exotic lady with white hair and a yellow dress. Angie.

 

Before he could say anything else, a scream was spread across the room and the lights were out.

  
“My, my, what a boring party!”, a deep voice exclaimed, “I—”

  
Twintail’s voice overtook what the mysterious man’s voice, “THE RING! IT’S GONE-”

  
Shouts of ‘Hey!’ and ‘Watch where you’re stepping!’ could be heard before the lights turned back on. Shuichi noticed a petite figure jumping out of the huge window and immediately ran to it. “Wait, get back here!”

  
Minutes passed before the man finally stopped to run, the two ended up on the roof of a building. All Shuichi could remember in that period of time was running, too tired to even know how exactly he’d ended up here safely. There was no doubt that the man in front of him was the Phantom Thief he used to chase after years ago. He had the same white suit and mask covering his whole face. However, the white cape he used to have was black instead and he wore a leather peaked hat. His hair was in a ponytail and he couldn’t see them as well as he could back then.

  
“Oh my, hello my dear Detective, long time no see.”, his voice was deep, way too deep than how Shuichi remembered. A voice changer, perhaps?

 

“Give back the ring box you stole.”

  
“We finally see each other again after years and this is the first thing you tell me now that we are face to face? How disappointing…”, the Thief trailed off. “Remember when we first met? I never thought it would end up like this. Me, ending up falling in love with the one who’s supposed to capture me. I know you used to have feelings for me, you still do now…”

  
“I don’t see why you’re telling me this, I already have someone in my life-” a soft click could be heard right after Shuichi finished his sentence. The Thief came close to the detective and started to remove his hat and his mask. Shuichi’s eyes grew wide at the sight and was too shocked to say anything.

  
“Nishishi..so, my beloved, who’s the _someone in your life,_ if it isn’t me _?_ ” Kokichi simply whispered, giggling slightly. “You must be wondering, why is my _incredibly beautiful and amazing boyfriend_ disguised as the famous Phantom Thief? The answer is obvious, I am the Phantom Thief. I’ve been here all this time.”

  
“B-but, why—“, Shuichi was quieted with a simple finger to his lips.

  
“Trust is important in a relationship, knowing each other’s secrets is important too sometimes. I’ve wanted to reveal my identity for so long, but just telling you wouldn’t be enough. So, I staged everything. You being “late” to work, the party, everything!” Arms spread out wide, city lights sparkling below.

 

And slowly, with a quiet resolve, Kokichi kneeled down. Shuichi paused, linking every event that occured today in his mind. The purplenette took out the ring box and opened it, revealing a simple ring inside. Kokichi inhaled slowly, deeply, hands shaking a bit in anticipation. “Shuichi..will you-”  And even though Shuichi was sweaty as hell and probably didn’t look the best, he tackled Kokichi in a hug, and they stayed like that, Kokichi burying his face into his fiance’s shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> They finally come back to the party and they announce their future wedding. Kokichi introduces Shuichi to DICE too.


End file.
